The liberty of raising import duties conceded by the Brussels Act was followed by an agreement of April 8, 1892, between France, the Congo, and Portugal, setting up a uniform tariff for the customs and exports duties in the western part of the Congo basin, a decision largely motived by the fact that the river formed the common boundary of these States for a considerable distance, and that parts of the French territory were more easily reached through Belgian territory, while Portugal had no ports on its side of the river and used instead those of the State. This arrangement, renewed from time to time, finally terminated on July 2, 1911, at the instance of France, which held that with the development of the French Congo the arrangement/ had ceased to be advantageous, and which desired to press for the reopening of the question of the rate of taxation permitted. The terms of the liquor clauses of the Brussels Act were, in accordance with its terms, submitted to revision by a second Conference, which met at Brussels in 1899, and agreed upon a Convention on June 8.2 Under the revised terms the rate of duty was raised to 70 francs per hectolitre at 50° Centigrade, with proportional increases for each degree above that standard, and permission to decrease for each degree below: in the case of Togoland and Dahomey the duty was exceptionally to be fixed at 60 francs. The excise duties levied on distilled drinks made in the regions into which import was permitted were to be raised to figures to correspond with the increase of the import duties. As in the case of the Brussels Act of 1890, the new rates were to endure for six years and then to be revised, and a Convention of November 3, 1906,3 agreed upon in accord with this principle, fixed for a period of ten years the import duty at 100 francs generally, but 70 in the case of Erythrea, and increased the excise duties in proportion. In the case of Angola special concessions were made in order to facilitate the transfer of distilleries into sugar factories. In this case 1 Lannoy, L'Organisation coloniale belge, pp. 185, 186. 3 Cd. 3264 and 3856. also revision of the rates was to be taken into consideration, but only eight years later; an effort to revise the figures in 1911 broke down,' and the question remains for further consideration. 1 Keith, West Africa, p. 213. CHAPTER VI THE CONQUEST OF THE KATANGA THE successful termination of the expedition of Stanley released the resources of the State for expansion on a large scale, and advantage was taken of the armed truce which prevailed with the slave-traders to secure the southern region of the State, known as the Katanga, from the name of a chief who at one time controlled the vast area of territory between the Lomami and Lualaba rivers and the 9° and 12° S. lat. At the time when the State came into existence much of the country was under the power of Msiri, formerly a merchant in copper and ivory, who had married the daughter of Katanga and had succeeded his father-in-law in his political power. Msiri showed considerable ability, and in a brief period he won between the years 1883-90 a position of paramount power, deriving large profits from the slave raids with which he devastated the surrounding country. The foundation of the post of Lusambo by M. Janssen in 1889 was intended as a preliminary to an advance against Msiri, and the demand for action became more pressing when the movements of the explorers, Joseph Thomson and Grant, excited fears that the British advance might pass beyond the watershed of the Congo and the Zambezi, which the King's declaration of neutrality had specified as the boundary of the State. This anxiety was not without cause. On November 8, 1890, Mr. A. Sharpe, British vice-consul in Nyasaland, visited Msiri and vainly urged the chief to accept the protection of the British flag. The Belgian, Hodister, had in the same year explored the Upper Mongala and the territory between the Lualaba and the Upper Lomami; and in April, 1891, Paul le Marinel 1 See Torday in Johnston, George Grenfell, i. 417-23. arrived at Msiri's capital at Bunkeia to negotiate a treaty with him. Msiri, however, proved as unwilling to accept Belgian as British rule or protection, but gave permission for the establishment of a Belgian post on the Lofoi, and the King resolved to dispatch Dhanis1 in the following year to secure the submission of the chief. In the meantime, however, he had been negotiating with the Compagnie du Commerce du Congo in order to secure its aid in the settlement of the south-an idea suggested, of course, by the success of the British South Africa Company, and encouraged by the fact that in 1888-9 Delcommune had already carried on explorations in the south in the interest of the Company. After long negotiations an agreement was reached in March, 1891. There was created a Compagnie du Katanga," which undertook to explore the Upper Congo, place two vessels on it, to establish three posts, to open up the territory, and to carry out such administrative duties as the State might see fit to assign to its servants. In return it was granted in full ownership one-third of the lands of the State in the whole region, to be allotted in chessboard fashion in blocks of 6', from the whole of the territory of the State in the basin of the Lualaba above Riba-Riba, and of the Upper Lomami. The new Company set about its work effectively: it took over control of the work already undertaken by Delcommune, and organized two further expeditions, the chiefs of which received commissions from the State to act for it in treating with the native chiefs and in securing the recognition in the Katanga of the flag of the State. In order to develop the commercial advantages secured to it, on October 21, 1891, the Katanga Company founded the Syndicat commercial du Katanga, whose sphere of action was to be the whole territory south of the Falls and of Yango on the Lomami, and the Syndicate hastened to dispatch an expedition under 1 Dhanis's expedition was en route when the slave-traders' attacks caused him to be recalled. 2 The capital was 3,000,000 francs. The Congo Company received 250,000 francs and 1,050 shares; Masoin, Histoire, ii. 199 sq. Hodister to establish steamers on the Upper Lualaba and to undertake the exploitation of the land of the Company, an enterprise which ended in May, 1892, in disaster at the hands of the Arabs.1 The expedition of Delcommune, originally commercial in aim, had left Matadi on September 30, 1890: it arrived at Bunkeia on October 6, 1891, after many adventures, in the course of which it had explored large areas of country hitherto unknown. Msiri received the leader in a friendly manner, and asked his aid against a faction of his subjects who were in revolt, alienated by the cruelties of a ruler whose advancing years had deprived him of much of his terror. Delcommune declined to interfere, preferring to leave the matter in the hands of Legat, the commandant of the post at Lofoi founded by P. le Marinel, who was awaiting the return of that officer. Leaving Lofoi, Delcommune advanced south to Ntenke, whence he proceeded to the Lualaba, having decided to follow its course to Nyangwe. In this hopeless effort to combat with the rapids he persisted for six months, but was finally compelled to return in June to Bunkeia. The next six months saw him engaged in fruitless efforts to assist Jacques, who was hard pressed at Albertville by the slave-traders, and in explorations of the Lukuja and the Luapula and Lualaba, which had finally to be stopped by reason of the exhaustion of the personnel of the expedition. Delcommune had showed the greatest resolution and courage as an explorer; but his mission had been politically of little or no value, and his management of his men had been seriously lacking in skill and humanity.2 Of much greater political importance was the mission of Captain Stairs, a young English officer who had entered the service of the State in order to find a wider field for his military ambition. His expedition followed the Zanzibar route; leaving the coast on July 4, 1891, and proceeding 1 The Syndicate was liquidated, but reappeared as the Compagnie du Lomami (July 5, 1898). 2 Masoin, Histoire, ii. 201–6. |